But the reason I'm doing it is to build a community around Creative Hive and more importantly, to honor other small business owners.

I respect, admire and appreciate your work.

As a result, I'm very picky with who I choose to feature. I try to keep a balance between all the different mediums of craft. Great photos have precedence.

Paid feature accounts on the other hand, feature shops that have the budget to pay them. They go where the money's at.

As long as you can pay for it and follow their guidelines for submission, you're golden.

Barrier to entry is not so high and there's rarely a jurying process.

What does this tell you about the overall quality of the paid Instagram feature account?

Why most paid feature accounts don't work

Notice that you, as a maker, are attracted to several feature accounts.

You hope to one day have the funds to be featured!

Imagine for a second how many other makers like you feel that same way.

Many paid feature accounts attract followers who are people just like you – other makers, artists, designers and shop owners.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

It's likely that the product you create is targeted at “regular people” who aren't shop owners. Unless you have a very specific product designed for shop owners.

Who is your ideal customer?

Is it the fashion conscious, 32 year old, bagel and cheese loving, suburbian mom of two who works at your local credit union?

Or is it other business owners trying to make sales?

Yes, it's true that you could have a small segment of your audience in the small business owner circle.

But in broad terms, it's highly unlikely.

Instagram feature accounts attract other makers who want to be featured.A majority of their followers are made up of other shop owners.

Getting your products featured in front of the wrong audience will do nothing for your brand.

You see, there are right and wrong ways to do marketing.

This is one of the wrong ways.

What you should do instead

You realize how difficult it is to build a following on Instagram.

Yet, there are profiles that grow to thousands of followers with relative ease.

While there are effective methods for growing that actually do work, unfortunately there are still some ways to grow an account with fake followers.

If you have a few dollars, you can buy several thousand fake followers that artificially boost your Instagram presence.

If you didn't know any better, you wouldn't question it an account with lots of followers.

How can you tell a fake following vs a real one?

Check the overall interaction and engagement levels of the existing posts on the feature account.

As a general rule, a 3-5% engagement level is healthy.

So if you find an feature account that has 20,000 followers, but only 100 likes on average per post (that's less than 1% engagement), that's a sign that you probably won't get great results working with them.

Granted, not all low engagement accounts are fake accounts. But it makes me question the legitimacy of the followers.

Where are your right customers?

Always be thinking about where your right customers are hanging out at.

Ask yourself if the Instagram feature account has an audience of people who are like your right customers.

If you choose to work with a feature account, do it for the right reasons.

Think outside the box

Ultimately, what you should do instead is look for large influencer accounts outside of your circle.

Go beyond your current network of Instagram accounts you follow just because you love connecting with other business owners.

The best Instagram influencers to work with are the ones who:

don't ask for payment because that means they aren't driven by the sale

Comments

Oh Mei, I had to comment to tell you that even as the most disorganised chaotic person in the world, I have made a ‘creative hive’ email folder and bookmarked your page. You are sooooo worth it :-) Thanks for all the info!!!

I fell into this paid feature trap a couple times last year. It seemed like such a great idea, but they never did bring in much traffic. This year is all about being smarter and more strategic! Thanks for the advice!

Hi Mei thank you so much for this article, tried it a few times with in Instagram feature accounts, it cost me a lot of money, brought me nothing, next time i`ll spend my money at fiverr for product descriptions

Glad to hear you found this helpful! My biggest expenses are outsourcing and I love educational material as well. So if you ever have to decide where to spend your money, it would be on both those buckets :)

Great post! Randomly stumbled on it. I’m a portrait artist and I’ve been featured on small features accounts that were free. However with the big feature accounts (ones with 1m followers) are only out to get your money. Using hashtags is pointless unless you pay them to feature you. Sure you’d get a boost in traffic to your page, but as you pointed out, they won’t be long time loyal fans. I found that if your content is popular/similar to others it’ll get you more followers/engagement. Seems like a popularity contest.

Thank you! There are definitely large social media profiles that would work with you without charging a fee, but finding them is a lot harder. I agree with the hashtags, it doesn’t normally work and I would use that hashtag spot for another that is more meaningful at attracting your ideal customers. I don’t think social media is a popularity contest though, but if you think about it as a way for you to build a community around your niche/market, you’ll feel a lot more fulfilled from the work you do on social media!

Thank you, Mei! This is great advice/information. Again, you have been so helpful. This is the third time I have learned a very valuable lesson from you. I am hooked and will be signing up to learn more! Thank you for your generosity.

Thank you, Mei! This is great advice/information. Again, you have been so helpful. This is the third time I have learned a very valuable lesson from you. I am hooked and will be signing up to learn more!

Thanks for the information! Every article I read from you is always very helpful. I am stoked to read more. Also, some advice and feedback on my photography account would be so appreciated! You can check my outdoor photography at http://www.instagram.com/quintenthijss , Thanks!!

Thank you for taking your time and writing this, I just started a Real Estate Business with my Sister in Atlanta, and i guess i forgot that every strong foundation takes time to build. Thank you for your advise, will keep working on our business to make it grow healthy.

I love this post. Im just trying to think of how i would connect with someone who could help me grow my hair extensions business. I do all the hash tags and ive done paid promotions, which after a week all drop off and are completely an unrelated target audience. There are loads of “beauty blog” people but i dont know if theyre just wanting a freeby and I cant really afford to give them the hair for free in the hope they will promote me…..any tips please?

I started a business account on Instagram 3 weeks ago. But I have already pay 1 to 2 dollars for promotes. But Still, in Payment sections, i am seeing money accumulating amount. I am not sure what is the money for whether its credit or debt. Apart from paying 2 dollars for promote

Great article! I am traveling in South America withmy puppy and looking to get more exposure, mostly so that we can share our trip and help others who would like to travel with dogs but don’t know where to start. Sowe have found our niche, now we just need to find the right ways to exploit it. If you’re interested in traveling with dog in South America our account on insta is: mylastvacation

Very useful information! So glad that I stumbled on it. I have a new etsy shop and was looking for ways to promote it. I was considering some of those paid featured accounts but you definitely have me thinking otherwise. I do agree that the free featured accounts are a better route.

Glad I could save you on a bit of money! :-) I’m not opposed to spending on features, but just make sure the influencer’s audience are people you really want to reach and who will actually buy your work.

Hi Mei: thank you so much for this valuable information. I’m starting to market a line of wearable one of a kind pendants and I’m still challenged by using social media. (And wondering if I’ll ever figure it out!) I look forward to reading more of your astute advice. Warm regards, Paulette

Hi Mei, Thanks for a great post. My new insta account was approached by a paid feature account, and after following your advice and doing a little research, found that it probably wasn’t viable. I think I’ll look for those ‘free’ feature accounts instead. Thanks again for the great advice! lisahttp://www.stylebythecoast.com

Oh wow, many thanks to you! I have spent many dollars on FB advertisement and was close to making the same mistake again on Instagram. I have received several messages from high profile pages asking if they could “feature” my work. ( fine art photography ) Only to have my sudden delight turn to disappointment after they request payment.

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I'm Mei ('may') from Minneapolis. I want to help you build a sustainable, profitable handmade business that makes you consistent income and sales. I only ever teach or recommend marketing, social media, pricing, production and branding tips that I've personally used in my own handmade business and that I know work. Read More…